Down by the Bays: New York Day 4

On our last day in New York, we decided to sleep in a little bit. We were SO TIRED the whole time we were there from all the walking and activity, and it was nice to not have an official start time for our day. We'd only really planned one thing for the day and then the rest of it was up in the air because we needed to be finished with everything and back at the hotel to get our stuff at 2 (this was a guess - we didn't know how long it would take us to get back to the airport and through security and we figured it was better to be super early than to rush and have to buy new flights home or something).

I took the time to take a few pictures of the place we stayed. Here's the view from our window.

And this is the little courtyard/backyard. We didn't go back there at all (the only times we were there were early in the morning and after dark at night but it looked cute).

Carson enjoyed his morning coffee while sitting on the floor for some reason.

The view from the front door.

Walking to the subway.

We saved the Brooklyn Bridge for last, because we didn't know how long it would take to get across it, and it was the closest thing to where we stayed. We got off the subway and walked through an area with lots of state courts. The buildings were pretty!

The days got progressively warmer during our time there. I enjoyed seeing what New Yorkers were wearing on the subway each morning. At the beginning of the week everyone had a big scarf and a coat (I didn't think it merited that, but it definitely got pretty chilly at times during that day) and toward the end of our trip the spring clothes and sandals were out. The temperature change didn't feel that drastic to me, but I think the continued presence of sunshine lured people out of their layers and into summery attire.

I think every picture I've seen of people walking on the Brooklyn Bridge has been pretty deceptive. I'm not sure at all why I didn't expect this, but I was surprised to find that it was absolutely PACKED. There were crowds of people walking, biking and running on the bridge, and it's relatively narrow for all that activity. I may be alone in that, but I wasn't expecting it.

I've seen pictures of bridges in Paris where people have attached locks, and we saw plenty of locks with names and dates on them, but we found it funny that people were also attaching headphones. I guess maybe they don't weigh as much?

The one thing I really really hated was wearing clunky tennis shoes everywhere. They were relatively comfortable (still got blisters) but I really hate wearing them and I hated everything I wore here. In a shocking move for me, I underpacked, clothing wise and brought just two shirts, so I wore the same shirt from two days before, and felt super goofy in black-on-black-with-clunky-shoes. Did anyone else know or care? Probably not, but I felt very dorky. It was this though or the same shoes with a dress and I don't know that I could pull that look off at all.

One thing Carson expressed a real interest in was seeing a celebrity on our trip. Quite honestly, the thought didn't cross my mind at all until he mentioned it, so I wasn't looking out for anyone. He did though, and several times said, "I think that's someone famous!"

He got his wish as we were walking through a park in Brooklyn. We were walking and talking and suddenly he looked to our right and yelled "WYNN DUFFY!"

"Who is that?" I asked.

"You know, the guy who plays Wynn Duffy on Justified" (a show I've seen a few episodes of but wasn't really that interested in)

He asked if I though he should ask the guy for a picture. I chose to stay behind while he ran after this guy (who was not also running; he was walking in the direction we had just come from and while we had stopped to discuss who this was, he'd gone on his merry way, not having responded to Carson's yelling the name of a character he played on a show several years ago. I guess he agreed to the picture and Carson made a few comments about how he liked the show. The actor's name is Jere Burns and I looked him up and I don't think I would have ever recognized him (although I did remember the character once I googled him).

We didn't have a specific place to go and we got a little lost in general, so we walked around the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood a little. I didn't take pictures of this, but we saw a group of guys with big cameras standing outside a house. I thought it was a historical building of some kind, although it didn't look like it, and was thinking that to myself when Carson said "I think those are paparazzi!" which made a lot more sense. We didn't see anyone come out of the house, but I'm sure we just missed seeing someone very famous.

We also passed a photo shoot going on, with lots of photographers, and later a bunch of white trailers on a random street. Someone leading a tour group passing by us told the group that it was a film shoot for the show, "The Americans". I'm not sure if it was or not, but there was definitely something going on.

We stopped at a bakery and Carson got a donut (I think? He also wanted a donut the whole trip but never really looked for a shop) and I had a black and white cookie that lived up to the hype.

We took the subway back to Times Square, simply because the day before we'd passed a place that had pretty postcards 10 for $1 and Carson really wanted a postcard.

We really really would have liked to see Aladdin, and hope to someday, but for now, here's the theater where it's playing!

We made a slightly wrong turn and ended up in the garment district. I got a picture of this big button before we turned around.

And when we turned around we saw a place with 99 cent pizza, so obviously we had to try it out. It was crowded, and very good.

One thing I hate? Character costumes. The only exception is at Disney World, because they seem less creepy. I hate the way non-Disney character costumed people will try to hug, talk to, or even walk in my general direction. I assume they are all serial killers or close to it and I veer away as much as possible. All that to say, there were a lot of creepy costumed people in Times Square. Extra creepy because they all seemed to have bad knock-off versions of costumes.

Right on time, we were back on "our" street to get our things and head to the airport.

We caught the subway and then the bus and then learned on that bus ride that you have to swipe your card at a little kiosk outside the bus stop and get a receipt instead of swiping inside the bus. We didn't know this the first time and no one said anything, so I guess we rode for free, but this bus driver yelled at us a little. Oops!

We got to the airport in plenty of time, and discovered after going through security that our terminal didn't have much in the way of food. We got sandwiches from Au Bon Pain and that did the trick. Our flight was a little delayed and there was a flight to Montreal leaving from the same gate that was VERY delayed, so we sat on the floor for a second before giving up and sitting at a less full gate down the way.

Carson slept on the way back.

Once landed in Jacksonville, we hopped on the shuttle and were pleased to discover that we were the very first stop. We got there two hours later than planned, and were so tired and ready to check into our hotel at the beach. We'd thought about staying an extra night in New York, but the flight was cheaper if we left on Friday instead of Saturday, and a room on Jacksonville Beach was much cheaper than one more in New York so instead of driving late at night we were able to just check in. GREAT decision on Carson's part. I'm glad we got there at 10:30 instead of getting home after 1am. We thought about a walk on the beach that night but instead watched a little tv, took hot showers since we weren't sharing a bathroom with other people like in the B&B, and went to bed excited that we didn't have to walk more the next day.